KIA Drone Strike Cripples Junta Warship, Forces Resupply Flotilla Back to Shwegu

On August 29, 2026, Kachin Independence Army (KIA)-led forces drone-bombed the lead warship of a junta resupply flotilla as it attempted to push upstream from Shwegu toward Banmaw (Bhamo), heavily damaging the vessel. The entire convoy — part of the same 14-15 vessel flotilla that departed Mandalay around August 21 and had already lost boats to KIA drone strikes on August 23-24 — turned back to Shwegu rather than continue to Bhamo. The setback compounds junta difficulties resupplying its besieged Bhamo garrison via the Irrawaddy River corridor.